# CAHFS Food Defense Discipline B Track 1 7/1/2020-6/30/2021 > **NIH FDA U19** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · 2020 · $56,242 ## Abstract Discipline B Track 1: Food Defense Project Summary One of the primary missions of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is to defend the nation’s food supply from acts of accidental or intentional chemical adulteration. Events such as the 2009 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the 2007 incident of melamine contamination in pet food have demonstrated the need for enhanced and coordinated response capacity in chemical analysis when any type of systemic contamination of the food supply occurs. These large-scale contamination events require far more capacity for chemical analysis than that maintained by the FDA. The goal of this project is to maintain a network of laboratories that are ready to provide investigative and surge capacity. This goal will be attained by requiring participating laboratories to possess the personnel, equipment, and facilities needed to provide this capacity. Laboratories will participate in chemical defense exercises and proficiency testing to assure their readiness in the event of a food defense emergency. The California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory (CAHFS) meets or exceeds the requirements to serve as a member of this network. The Toxicology Section of CAHFS has the personnel and resources to receive large numbers of samples and to perform complex testing critical to the detection and identification of a broad array of toxicants in a timely manner. CAHFS is highly experienced in the specific FDA-approved methods required for this project as well as many others. These methods include CHE.0006, CHE.0008, and CHE.0009. In addition, the Toxicology Section has over 70 SOPs for toxicants including mycotoxins, pesticides, veterinary drugs, plant toxins, algal toxins, and many others. CAHFS Toxicology is also highly experienced in rapidly developing novel methods in the event of an unexpected food contamination event. CAHFS maintains a BSL 3 facility for use in the event of contamination by a select agent and all chemists in the Toxicology Section participate in the CAHFS select agent program. The laboratory has been accredited through the Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians since 2005, and to the standards of ISO 17025 since 2017. CAHFS maintains a robust quality assurance and quality control program and has successfully participated in all proficiency test exercises This project’s goal is to provide laboratory capacity to help protect the nation’s food supply from attack by intentional adulteration or accidental contamination by toxic chemicals. CAHFS meets or exceeds all project requirements and will act as a valued partner to the FDA in achieving these goals. ## Key facts - **NIH application ID:** 10173536 - **Project number:** 1U19FD007066-01 - **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS - **Principal Investigator:** ROBERT HOWARD POPPENGA - **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.) - **Funding institute:** FDA - **Fiscal year:** 2020 - **Award amount:** $56,242 - **Award type:** 1 - **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2025-06-30 ## Primary source NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10173536 ## Citation > US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10173536, CAHFS Food Defense Discipline B Track 1 7/1/2020-6/30/2021 (1U19FD007066-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10173536. Licensed CC0. --- *[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*